For those interested in how TK and Rachel get ahead in episode 9, I have the answer. You can find it in the Timeline Speculation thread. However,for those not willing to venture there the answer is that they take a routing of Mumbai to Bangkok to Hong Kong to Taipei(!!) to Osaka while the rest of the pack go directly from Hong Kong to Osaka. Their advantage appears to be 75 minutes.

well personally, I don't believe Japan is eimintion point because my friend only heard "I wonder what the asians would say if they came to this place", doesn't imply anything about Ron and Chris eliminated, we are only certain that they were far behind in the race.

One Racer begins showing signs of physical deterioration, prompting the Teammate to step up to the plate. But will it be enough?One volatile relationship takes a turn for the worse. Will the Team be able to get it together before it's too late?Taxi drivers have caused grief for Teams at the most inopportune times. Now, it's the revenge of the Racers as they don gloves and hats and drive Japanese passengers around the confusing streets of Osaka!

Nice work, Neobie! It's just down the road from Osaka castle. It's too far to walk to Fukushima rail station from where they're at; maybe they still have the taxi task to do, or maybe the Hard Rock Osaka is getting a free plug.

One Racer begins showing signs of physical deterioration, prompting the Teammate to step up to the plate. But will it be enough?One volatile relationship takes a turn for the worse. Will the Team be able to get it together before it's too late?Taxi drivers have caused grief for Teams at the most inopportune times. Now, it's the revenge of the Racers as they don gloves and hats and drive Japanese passengers around the confusing streets of Osaka!

1. Nicolas/Donald, and if the Alaska spoiler is true, then yes.2. There's clearly two choices here. Jen/Nate probably will (they managed to get over their issues this leg); Ron/Christina I'm less sure about3. This sounds like a Roadblock - hopefully it'll be as awesome as TAR 7's bus roadblock.

EDIT - Just though of something: Nic/Don have a Detour clue but there's no sign of another team, so there's no Intersection this leg. If it's an elimination leg, then they've gotten rid of it for good I don't even want to think about putting an Intersection on a leg with a speed bump, it would be too much like the MFE/Intersection/charter bus/FF disaster of last year.

OK, the statue dude is Rennyo; his statue is in the courtyard (between the street and the main temple) of the Kitamido (no English pages) in Osaka. I've looked through temple pics for any sign of a drum, but no luck.To make things muddy I've found a nearly identical statue here (source page). I can't read Japanese, so I have no idea about the location.

OK, just cleaning up the data. Windows live translator has some new languages--japanese, arabic, korean, etc.--so I've tracked the alternate location I mentioned to the Yoshizaki Gobo temple in Fukui prefecture. Seems Rennyo hightailed it out of town when the locals showed up with torches and pitchforks. So that can be discounted, and Kitamido is probably where Don/Nick were walking. Why? I don't know; it seems like an unremarkable place. Still haven't found the drum anywhere inside.

Just because non of you East Coasters have said it yet: in this shot they are headed to the train station.

Nic tells Don that he may be able to get water at the train station.

So maybe the drum is in another city!

:pfft Not all of us are "East Coasters".... no, we haven't ruled out other cities. In fact Osaka is very near Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, and others (with possible taikos). Take your pick I'm on record as picking Nara, but am open to suggestions. So many places to look, so little time....